The Girl Behind The Glasses (On Hold)

Chapter 26

I gently place the letter back into the envelope, not wanting to ruin it. The next thing that gets my attention is a little velvet box with a red bow on it. I pick it up. 'Happy 18th Birthday Jade – XX Mom & Dad' is attached to the box. I remove the bow and open the box. Inside the box is a necklace but not just any necklace, a jade necklace. The single gem is encircled in a ring of silver, a thin, delicate chain connected to it.

I take the necklace out of the box and examine the small gem in the centre. The necklace itself is plain and simple yet delicate and beautiful and the gem stunning with a green gleam. I unclasp the clasp on the chain and put the necklace on. I am never taking this necklace off. Not now, not ever. Always. I look down to the tattoo on my wrist where that very word is tattooed. Always.

I look at the rest of the box's contents. There are multiple files with information that I will go through later, a photo album and one framed picture. My heart falls to my stomach and a sob escapes my lips at the sight of the framed picture. The tears flow down like a waterfall and fall onto the glass. I hug the frame to my chest. I sit there for a while just hugging the frame to my chest. I compose myself, the tears stop, I remove the frame from my chest to examine it. If I had any more tears left they would have fallen again but my tear ducts are dry after everything that I have gone through today. Wow, I really am a cry-baby, if anyone besides my friends saw me like this I would kick their *ss right on the spot.

The picture staring back at me is one filled with so much joy. I can still recall the events of that day. My parents wanted to take a nice family photo so they asked Aunt Shay to take the photo in the backyard. They weren't the ones for stiff photos with a white background and that sort of thing. The thing is, is that this particular photo was taken on my parents anniversary so there was cake. Sam and I may or may not have thrown cake at each other and soiled our clean clothes that our mother had handpicked for us. My dad being the jokester he was smiled at my mom and smashed a piece of cake in her face and ruining the beautiful white dress she was wearing in the process. She retaliated and we ended up having a full-blown cake war.

In the picture, mom and dad are standing behind Sam and I. Dad has an arm slung across mom's shoulder while his hand of his free arm rests on my shoulder and mom wraps her arms around Sam. We were covered with frosting from head to toe and everything in between but we had giant smiles plastered on our faces and definitely not fake smile. I don't know when was the last time I looked so happy. The last time there wasn't something dark and menacing gnawing me from the inside.

Looking at the photo brings a smile to my face. I loved that day even though Sam and I were later scolded by mom for wasting perfectly good cake. No we didn't get scolded for ruining our clothes or ruining the picture, no we get scolded for wasting cake. I think I now know where I get my love for food from.

The next thing I pull out is a DVD. I look at the rest of the contents but it's just papers so I put the papers, photo album, which I am yet to open, and the letter back into the box and I lock it. I put the DVD into the DVD player but I decide to change out of my still soaking clothes before playing it. I pick up the locked box and carry it upstairs. I enter my room and hide the box behind one of the multiple hidden panels in my wall. I then grab a set of pyjamas from my closet and head to the bathroom.

I lay my clothes down and head to the shower. I turn the shower on, wanting the water to be warm before I get in. I walk over to the mirror and am stunned. Well sh*t, I definitely look like I got hit by a truck. My face puffy and streaked with dry tears and my eyes are blood shot. I get undressed and get into the shower.

What did they mean when they said I can't trust Aunt Shay. All she was, was nice to me. She looked after me, fed me, clothed me, gave me a roof to live under until I decided to move out, she sent me to school and helped trained me into the agent I am today. Why wouldn't I trust her? Okay in the beginning, I was very distant and I didn't want to get close to her in case something happened to her to. This lasted for a while and those two years of torture didn't help either. I only recently got close to her and look what happened. She was murdered. I swear the universe hates me.